Todd Lynn

Todd Lynn opted to hold his show at The Box, a small, cabaret-style Soho club bathed in red light that bills itself as a "Theatre of Varieties." The space does not allow for too many guests, nor did the designer get carried away with too many looks—a lean twenty-four, to be exact. It's one of those unofficial laws of nature that when you force yourself to reduce, every decision matters more. Lynn has always been seduced by clashing masculine and feminine, and the results played out sharply, with bra cups inserted into suiting and a tailored coat ringed from the hips in a wraparound of fluid pleating. He gushed over Berlin-based artist Jonas Burgert's focus on civilization's end time—which didn't necessarily offer much explanation for the removable, zippered funnel belts, but helped paint the picture of a fatalist femme fatale. Certainly, she could draw from a selection of killer coats, the best revealing a vent filled in with inverted pleats.

To hear Lynn tell the story about how his studio sent Saga Furs a sample of white fox defiled by green highlighter is to realize that his spin on goth is birthed from ingenuity, not darkness. And the confidence he shows with specialty surface treatments—from slim liquid silver suiting and a billowy anthracite skirt paired over pants to papery leather treated with a resin—is precisely what will continue to attract music artists and directional shoppers to his label.

Lynn continues to work with Christian Louboutin on footwear (and Gary Powell of the Libertines on music); with this latest cinched
boot—consistent throughout the show, differing only in heel
height—he should prepare himself for an expanded fan base next season. It's about time.